EnglishCosmina Capalău
Statistics made by the National Union of Public Notaries in Romania (UNNPR) regarding the real estate market reveal that the number of property transactions and property collateral contracts concluded in the first five months of 2009 is by 52.35% smaller than in the corresponding period of 2008. The number of property transactions concluded between January and May 2009 is by 35.77% smaller than in the corresponding period of 2008, respectively, 134,496 transactions compared to 209,409 transactions. February was the worst month in the interval, with a 40.23% year-on-year plunge, while May was the best month of the interval, with a 33.55% year-on-year decline.
Referring to property collateral contracts, the National Union of Public Notaries in Romania announced a year-on-year decline of 68.92% in the period between January and May 2009. Specifically, the total decreased from 89,465 contracts in the first five months of 2008 to 27,810 contracts a year later. January was the worst month with a 72.31% decline, while April was the best month in the interval with a 66.82% decline.
The value of the taxes collected from property transactions between January and May 2009 decreased by 64.15% year-on-year, with February being the worst month (67.7%) and January the best month in the interval (58.07%).
• First Home Programme could help revitalize the market
Given the recent introduction of the State-driven First Home Programme designed to help Romanians buy their first home based on State guarantees, the real estate market may recover a few percentage points by the end of the year due to the shift from a seller-driven price to a buyer-driven price based on the availability of funds in participating banks.
Nevertheless, some say the programme should have been designed and applied for newly built homes or homes under construction, because the current terms and conditions of the programme encourage sales of homes in pre-existing buildings.
"We should warn both buyers and developers, who should focus on homes priced at up to 60,000 EUR. For the time being, those who are very eager to own a home are buying chaotically, without considering living standards," said Eduard Uzunov, CEO of the real estate agency Regatta. As a consequence of the programme and the way in which the Romanian real estate market functions, "those who have apartments for sale and would have settled for 60,000 EUR before are now planning to increase the price to 65,000 - 70,000 EUR," Uzunov added.
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